like others in this thread, i do use both Go Dark and Active Sensor Ping occasionally. the former is useful for smuggling and sometimes for escaping a pursuer by taking advantage of terrain, the latter for finding a fleet i'm looking for (mostly bounty targets) or luring a hostile fleet to my position from long range.
hopefully the scavenging and exploration features of 0.8a will also add some more meaning to the sensor system as a whole, by adding lots of things that need to be found, and 'false' sensor contacts that may or may not be an actual fleet.
i would like to see more ambush play in general though. currently, AI pirates always just roam, and immediately pursue any target they spot at the edge of their sensor range, rather than lying in wait at strategic positions, letting targets come close before revealing the trap.
and similarly, it's rarely worth to create such a trap as a player, as there aren't enough positions that would provide good ambush opportunities. it's almost always more effective to just roam, and hunt down any targets wherever you find them.